Summer weather to return in time for the weekend with highs of 26C

AFTER more than half a month's worth of rain fell in just one night this week - the downpours are set to almost completely wash away making room for another few days of warmer temperatures as we hit the weekend.

Dreary grey skies will be replaced by near constant sunshine as the week nears its end, with the remainder of the heaviest showers clearing away by Thursday night.

London and the south can expect to see the warmest of the weather, with the mercury hitting 26 degrees celsius on Sunday - although areas north of the capital including; Norfolk, Suffolk and even Lincolnshire can expect to bask in a few summery rays.

Met Office forecaster Alex Burkill said: "It will be quite warm over the next few days and particularly at the weekend.

"Sunday is the most likely day we will see the temperature rising when it will be warm and humid again.

"But it won’t be particularly long lasting with some showers and rain still around in places and by next Tuesday and Wednesday it will be getting cooler again when we’ll see temperatures closer to normal for this time of year at around 22 degrees in the south and 17 or 18 in the north.

";Even Sunday however isn’t looking perfectly dry.

"There will be an area of low pressure today making its way eastwards, with showers in the north, and as it does that there will be a more north-westerly flow through Thursday and Friday with air coming from the north west into an area of high pressure which is set to come through into Saturday and Sunday when it suddenly changes into a south south westerly flow.

"It’s this change from a south westerly into a north westerly that brings in the warm air.

"On Saturday they’ll still be some fairly significant rain for northern parts of the UK and to some extent further south. There certainly won’t be wall to wall blue sunshine."

Half a month’s worth of rain fell in parts of the UK on Monday night as the summer dry spell came to an abrupt halt.

Many people all over the country feared the summer had come to a close as the weather turned rather more wintry.

The unpredictable summer is expected to take another turn as weather experts are promising the heat will return in the next few days.

Not everyone will escape the deluge of rain however as Northern Ireland is set to become increasingly wet and windy over the weekend, with rain clouds sweeping in from the west.

A spokesman for Net Weather TV said: "The weekend brings high pressure close to the south, but low pressure again approaching from the Atlantic and aiming itself at Scotland.

"What this will do is pump some warmer air up over the country, but it's likely to be warm and wet across the north - especially Scotland on Saturday as a spell of rain moves in from the west.

"Further south though, it's drier, sunnier, and warm with highs up into the mid to perhaps even high twenties."

August’s first week was in sharp contrast to the heat of July which enjoyed record breaking temperatures.

Overcast weather has carpeted the UK this week with temperatures hovering around a muggy 20C to 21C – a far cry from the sweltering highs of 34 degrees Brits baked in last month.

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